It’s that time in the legislatures across the country when things get official.

Done in dead solemn seriousness, official crap carries about the same level of debate as a declaration of war.

In Texas, one of our state representatives wants to name the cowboy hat as the official hat of Texas.

If the resolution passes, the cowboy hat will join a stupefyingly long list of other official state symbols – including the pecan tree (State Tree), the jalapeño (State Pepper), the Dutch Oven (State Cooking Implement), and Sideoats grama (State Grass).

Texas has two separate state shrubs (the crape myrtle and the Texas sage) and two separate state pastries (strudel and sopaipillas). There are three state mammals (the Longhorn, the Mexican free-tailed bat, and the armadillo) – and that’s not counting the official state dog breed (Blue Lacy) and horse (American quarter horse). There’s a state domino game (42), a state squash (pumpkin), and a state waterlily (Nymphaea Texas Dawn).

In Tennessee, though, things got heated when a legislator decided to introduce a bill making the Bible the state book of Tennessee.  I was shocked, shocked I tell you, that anybody in Tennessee could read.

Even the Republican Attorney General warned that this was a clear violation of separation of church and state.  But, nope, they wanna do it anyway.

“There are some things that are worth standing up for,” said Rep. Andy Holt, a Republican. “Markets, money and military are meaningless without morals. I think it’s time for our body to make a stand.”

But there was some naysayers.  Just not the kind you’d expect.

Several lawmakers raised concerns about putting the Bible on par with innocuous state symbols such as the official salamander, tree and beverage.

“Pilgrim’s Progress is a book, To Kill a Mockingbird is a book,” said Rep. Patsy Hazlewood, R-Signal Mountain. “The Bible is the word of God, it’s a whole a whole different level.”

Yeah, I guess being the official state book of Tennessee is kinda shameful.

Thanks to Auntie BFly for the heads up.